The discovery was
serendipitous. “We discovered somewhat by accident that this material worked,” said Adam Rondinone, lead author of the study. “We were
trying to study the first step of a proposed reaction when we realized that the
catalyst was doing the entire reaction on its own.”

A catalyst is a
compound added to reactive mixes to affect other responses. The team used a
catalyst with a novel design of copper nanoparticles embedded in carbon spikes.
Applying an electric voltage to carbon dioxide dissolved in water water set off
complicated reactions in the microscopic reaction sites on the catalyst surface
and yielded ethanol. The researchers report a 63 percent yield recovery.

Renewable & Recyclable

“We’re taking
carbon dioxide, a waste product of combustion, and we’re pushing that
combustion reaction backwards with very high selectivity to a useful fuel,”
Rondinone said.Ethanol is the same type of alcohol found in alcoholic
beverages but is also widely used as an additive to motor fuel. It’s commonly
sourced from plant material.

The researchers
are also enthusiastic about the industrial replicability of the setup, as the
technique uses low-cost materials and can be performed in room temperature.

The development is
shifting paradigms in fuel use, introducing a way of having “renewable”
greenhouse gases. Carbon dioxide takes up 65 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, belched out
primarily by fossil fuel and industrial processes. Carbon
capture is the most commonly used technology to regulate emissions by
keeping it from reaching the atmosphere by turning carbon dioxide and
particulate combustion residue into solid waste—a waste-to-waste process.
Catalytic conversion of waste carbon dioxide presents a waste-to-fuel
alternative that is truly valuable to us today.